Mutual Attraction
by You.Talk.Of.My.Drinking
Summary: Edwards Point of View of Chapter Two of The Housemate. When he first meets Bella. OLDERWARD


**Enchanted- Edwards Point of View of the First Meeting**

My first night in the Dwyer home wasn't a bad one at all. The day wasn't too bad either, to be honest. Well, for a moving day. The worst part about it was Renee and her incessant need to ask me questions.

"Wow, Edward, that is one large TV. What kind is it?"

"Are these your favorite movies?"

"You know we have a television out in the living room that you're welcome to use. It's all hooked up to the cable."

Now, she wouldn't have been too difficult to handle if she had only said these things once or twice. Instead she repeated these questions. Several times. Which made her not only difficult to handle, but the largest thorn in my side since Jacob at the rehab center.

Finally, Phil came down and took her away to make dinner and I lugged in the rest of my things and began unpacking. I still hadn't met Bella yet, but Renee and Phil were nice enough, and the pictures I'd seen of Bella…Well, they were nothing short of spectacular. She was gorgeous, to say the least. A soft sweet smile and eyes that I could fall into. Not to mention, her beautiful body, luscious hair, and curves. Lord, that girl had curves. I was attracted to her right from the moment I saw the picture.

While they were upstairs, I didn't see a problem with peeking into my new housemates room. It was right next to mine, and unoccupied. Just begging for some snooping.

I kept my senses sharp as I walked over, pushing the door open with my pointer finger and stepping slowly inside, flipping on the light as I did so. Small. Clean. It really was a simple living space. A small bed was tucked into the corner, a closet in the wall opposite. A desk sat next to the bed, a dresser next to the closet. All the surfaces were clean, the bed was made. On the wall beneath her bed, though, was the most untidy surface in the room. The bookshelf. It was absolutely loaded with books, to the point that the actual shelves were bowing under their weight.

I smiled lightly, and walked over to her desk. On it rested an iPod dock. The iPod was in the dock and I pulled it out, slowly scanning the music on it. God, she has a wide taste in music. The music on it rivaled the music on my own. She had quite the extensive collection. I liked her even more.

Next, I wandered over to the dresser, staring down at the first dresser drawer. Did I want to be a complete pervert and open the drawer, or just give in to my manly temptation and blame it on those instincts alone? This didn't have to be some moral dilemma. All I was doing was opening a drawer. Where a girl most likely kept her underwear. A seventeen year old girl that I had never met. A seventeen year old girl that I had never met and was living right next door to. I sighed, disgusted with myself and left the room, flicking off the light. But, damn, the temptation to go back and rip open that drawer was almost too much to bear.

"Edward, come up for dinner and pie!" Phils voice sounded from the top of the stairs and I tucked my chin, feeling remorse for going through his step daughters room. But it didn't take much to shake that off and head upstairs.

Hell, I never claimed to be perfect.

~O~

Renee chattered on and on and on all throughout dinner. The woman just wouldn't shut up. Obviously I had gotten a taste of this in the interviews that we had, but this was simply ridiculous. She hopped from one topic to another like a drunk bunny.

I nodded, I smiled, I laughed. I wanted to reach across the table and slap her silly. And when I was at my absolute wits end, a cold wind was sent through the house along with the sound of a door closing quietly. Renee straightened up like a dog and called her daughter's name.

When Bella replied, with barely masked sarcasm, Renee went over to the stair rail and leaned far over, sticking her ass in the air. Phil enjoyed the view. I looked down at my shoes and asked God why I had chosen this place.

And then my answer appeared just as she walked up the stairs. She was beautiful. All chocolate brown curls and warm, soft eyes. God, her skin looked like it would be so fucking soft, so fucking warm.

S_eventeen, Edward._ My responsible side nagged.

Awe, who gives a fuck, really? She'd be 18 soon. And it's not like anybody in my family had done worse. Really, this would be the norm. As long as she wasn't disgusted or concerned by the age difference, everything would be fine. I hoped she wouldn't be, because god she was everything I wanted.

Renee's arm immediately clapped down on her shoulder, and she guided her to stand on the other side of the table. Bella was looking around the house, lost in thought, but Renee's introduction pulled her out of it and she took a quick look at me. Her eyes widened and came back to me almost immediately after leaving me. And from the way she looked at me, I was guessing the age difference wouldn't be large issue. Girl was eye fucking me right there in her parents kitchen, and fuck me if I didn't eye fuck her right back.

Apparently, Phil was more observant than I thought he would be and he cleared his throat to get us to stop. Blood flooded her cheeks and she looked away from me, down at the floor. God, she was beautiful. All pretty blushes and bashful looks at the floor. I wanted to feel her melt around me.

But she was embarrassed and I saw a light sheen cover her eyes, almost like she was going to cry, so I pulled myself from my daze and smiled at her, standing up and walking over to her so I could greet her properly.

"Pretty girls shouldn't cry, Edward." I heard my Mother's voice into my head.

"Hello, Bella. I'm Edward." I gestured to the flowers that I had brought. "I brought those for you as a little thank you for sharing your basement with me. I know it must be strange to share walls with a stranger, so I hope to get to know you so there won't be any anxiety." God I sounded like a pedophile. I held out my hand, hoping that she would just shake it and put me out of my misery. She did, and my heart started beating so fast and hard that I felt my stomach start to shake.

And then she pulled away and excused herself until dessert. And I was back listening to Phil and Renee chatter on about nothing. But I didn't mind it quite so much.

~O~

When she came back up for pie about a half hour later, she was deliciously rumpled. Phil was going on and on about my age, I guess to show Bella how old I was, but I ignored it, instead choosing to give him half answers so I could look at her. I tried to coax her to meet my eyes, but it wasn't happening. She was still embarrassed, glaring at the table and sulking.

It revealed her age, but god damn; to me she was so fucking adorable with her messy hair and pillow imprint on her cheek. She looked like a little pussy cat pretending to be a lion. I scrunched up my nose a little bit, smirking at her even though she couldn't see.

Renee served the pie and I started to eat it, not really tasting it at all. I watched Bella take four small bites, swallowing them whole, before she began to play with her food, mushing it up. Renee noticed me watching and tried to coax Bella to speak, apologizing when it didn't work.

I waved my hand, writing it off and making an excuse for her. She was obviously tired if she had fallen asleep in the half hour that she was down in her room, on that little tiny bed with the simple comforter. I wondered if she curled up or spread out. Instead of asking Bella what position she slept in, I asked Renee what she did for work, getting her out of Bella's ass for just a minute.

She noticed what I was doing, though and she finally looked up with me, making eye contact. She smiled a small little bashful smile and mouthed a 'thank you'. I knew my answering smile was goofy and ridiculous but I couldn't help it, cause fuck…just. Fuck. She just beamed at me like I had made her night.

Renee just wouldn't shut up, and all I could do was think about Bella and how fucking beautiful she was, beaming at me because I gave her my big, stupid smile. And I ran my foot up her calf without thinking, gently feeling along her leg, wondering if her skin was smooth and cursing my damn sock. She froze a little bit, but didn't look up at me for a minute. She didn't pull away. I took that as a sign to keep going, nodding and talking to Renee as I slowly pushed my toes, tracing her little knee, her little ankle bones, her tibia. God she was small.

When she met my gaze, she didn't look disgusted. Intrigued, yes. But not disgusted. Curious….and, dare I say, horny? She swallowed loudly, putting her fork down. I gave her my best soft smile, but she was immune. She just gave me a bitch brow. I laughed to myself.

Renee asked Bella to do the dishes as we finished up, which was highly unfair considering that Bella hadn't even eaten anything. Her mother's voice pulled her away from me and she jerked her foot away. Just like that, Renee had gone back to being horribly annoying.

~O~

I went downstairs to take a piss, and change into pajamas, then lounged around in the living room and waited a few minutes for Bella to come down. In the end I just gave up and went upstairs to her, because it sucked that she was stuck doing dishes by herself.

She was washing them a bit more violently then needed, tossing them harshly onto the drying mat, talking quietly to herself. I asked her if she needed any help, watched her jump a little bit, and then nod. I grabbed the towel to dry. It reminded me of home, drying dishes. Reminded me of Alice and Mom and things that I really didn't want to think about. I focused on her instead, asking her what the project Renee brought up earlier was on.

"The Alu Sequence and Human Disease," Her response was rather unenthusiastic, and understandably so. The sequence was boring. And…something rather advanced. She must've been in the applied class. God, she was impressive. Smart, liked to read, fucking sexy as hell. I began to flirt with absolutely no shame.

I nudged her shoulder gently, "Well, Ms. Smarty pants, how's that going so far?" I let my fingers dance across her hand as I took the glass she was handing me. Goosebumps popped up onto her arm. I prayed to god that she was as affected by me as I was her.

"It's going okay. Definitely the hardest paper I've ever had to write. However, I like the challenge, and I'm glad that she's letting us do the paper with a partner. Splits the work in half and makes it a ton easier." She was quiet as she explained, and god did she seem tired. But not the physical kind of exhaustion. The kind of exhaustion where you just want to curl up in bed for days and not get out. That emotional exhaustion that weighs on you even when you're sleeping.

I stroked her hand as I took a plate, but for a different reason this time. _I know how you feel. Don't you see that I feel the same way? Find some solace in me, beautiful girl. Just allow me to do the same in return. _

Suddenly, a very small, quiet sound escaped her lips. I swear to fucking god it was a moan. And it, embarrassingly, went straight to my pants. That's right. A grown man sprung a fucking boner in the kitchen while doing dishes because of a barely there moan.

I was so fucking fucked.

"Are you okay?" Of course, my voice was all deep and rough and turned on. I cleared my throat, and she did that little swallow again. It made me wonder if it was a nervous tick, or maybe…something else.

She nodded in the affirmative, so I began asking her questions, what she liked to read, and what kind of music she liked to listen to (things I already knew because apparently, I'm a fucking stalker now). I also asked her favorite food, what she liked to do on weekends, what her friends' names were. I confirmed her graduation was this year, asked her what she wanted to major in in college. It was nice, getting to know her. She was lovely. Fucking spectacular, really.

I touched her every chance I had, and when the dishes were done, I dropped her off at her room, and sat down on my unmade bed, listening to her quietly go through the motions of getting ready for sleep on the other side of the wall. The sound of the dresser drawer being pushed back in, and the springs of the bed squeaking as she flopped down were all I heard. I waited a little while to ensure she was going asleep before I got up and began unpacking the rest of my boxes.

That night, as I unpacked on auto pilot and thought about Bella, I made a life changing decision: I wanted to know more about this beautiful girl. I was going to pursue her, and I just fucking knew that we were going to end up together.

_**I don't want you to leave, will you hold my hand?**_

_**Won't you stay with me? 'Cause you're all I need…**_

_**Why am I so emotional? **_

_**This is not a good look, gain some self-control.**_

_**Deep down, I know this never works. **_

_**But you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt.**_


End file.
